Google to let sites block personalised ads under California privacy law

Websites and apps using Google’s advertising tools will be able to block personalised ads to internet users in California and elsewhere as part of the Alphabet Inc unit’s effort to help them comply with the state’s new privacy law, it told clients this week.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes into effect on Jan. 1, requires large businesses to let consumers opt-out of the sale of their personal data. Lobbying by internet companies earlier this year failed to have the law exclude personalised ads, leaving the most popular and lucrative online ads in jeopardy.